Taneka Stotts's Blog: If Tumbleweeds Could Talk

Yesterday ELEMENTS: Fire was nominated officially for an Eisner award for Best Anthology. Being a queer and black editor, writer, creator, with two Eisner nominations now under my belt and 35... I'm over the moon.

We also took the Silver medal at the Independent Publisher Book Awards (Ippy Awards) for Best Graphic Novel/Drawn Book. It has been an amazing year for a little book that truly could and did.

This on top of winning the Ignatz for Outstanding Anthology, our fire, our voices, and our stories can no longer be stopped!

Now with my impending move from Portland, it's the cherry on top to returning back to my home full of sun and cuties, and time to embrace what I love doing most and create more for myself and dive further back into the worlds I love.

Want some amazingly powerful queer comic anthologies. Genre defying comics by all creators of color. Head on over to P-14 in the Artists Alley at Emerald City Comic Con and come get your fix.

See you there :)

Well we finished out with a blast. Beyond 2 advances arrived. Beyond 1 is bolder & even more beautiful in my collection, and Elements: Fire looks great sandwiched between them both. To see the Beyond Press logo now on two books is its own special treat.

So what next... We're 3 days into 2018 and my calendar is already filling up. Emerald City Comic Con, moving, new job, new projects, ELEMENTS: Earth, and a few announcements.

For me 2017 wasn't a bad year. I fought more than usual for my rights to breathe, but I didn't get hung up, and I continued onward. Now it's time to continue upward. I laid a lot of seeds last years and I would like to see them sprout.

My first scheduled appearance is Emerald City Comic Con at table P-14 with the fabulous Ria Martinez. I've been contacted about a few shows in between, but I'm unsure if they will fit in, but I promise to keep you all posted!

I hope you survived the holidays and you're ready to tackle what comes next!

My comics advice for 2018 is just this:

Create.

You'll get accepted. You'll get rejected. You'll make friends. You'll make frenemies. Pros will keep giving protips. You'll grow and make your own tips. No one has all the right answers, but you have the right idea, so create it.

So I write a little webcomic with artist Genué Revuelta called Love Circuits. Last week we were given a very kind review for the series and I have to say I'm over the moon about it, I wanted to share it here!

If you would like to read Love Circuits, you can find it at: www.LoveCircuits.com

Enjoy ^_-

No seriously, it's a brick. ELEMENTS: Fire won Outstanding Anthology at the Ignatz that took place at SPX! I'm beyond a lot of things right now, but mostly it has lit yet another fire inside of me that I will now seek and embrace.

I posted my awards speech in case I won and I want to share it here as well:

Hello folks. First, I would like to say thank you for voting for creators of color. Thank you for recognizing their time, talent, and their voices. This project started due to a lack of diverse creators in an industry built around imagination, and it will sadly have to continue until this industry realizes we're not mere figments of said imagination. Until then. I'll keep putting out bad ass books. These creators will continue to put out bad ass works. And we thank you for your support, because diversity is not just a buzzword for marketing.

Thank you to my wife for allowing me too many late nights, to my co-editor, my entire production team, the contributors, but mostly Shivana for accepting this dang award and reading this thing out loud for me. One day I'll win the SPX lottery!

Thank you to everyone who voted! Thank you to everyone who believed in us! Thank you to everyone who allowed me their time, talent, and most of all their fire!

This weekend ELEMENTS: Fire is up for two Ignatz awards. Outstanding Anthology and Outstanding Story "Too Hot to Be Cool" by Maddi Gonzalez. It's been a whirlwind of a year and to kind of coast into this was shocking and surprising. It's been amazing to be nominated and the competition is fierce this year. Everyone is deserving and everyone is there to tell their stories.

I won't be attending, I'm actually going in a vacation with my missus so, I'll be missing this event. Doing some laundry before leaving even. Sounds pretty mundane, because it is. However, I'm sure as I'm watching Hyukoh play my mind will wonder who took the award. I guess I'll find out on Monday!

This has been one intense week. I'm so happy to know who I know and to have worked with so many amazingly talented creators and friends. Speaking of which Rose City Comic Con was amazing and again I had an amazing year. Thank you everyone who stopped by.

I guess I should go finish laundry now so we're not late getting out of town.

E34: QUEERING AND MELANATING THE COMIC WORLD (W/ TANEKA STOTTS)

Listen to me talk to Soleil Ho of Racist Sandwich about life, comics, and Sailor Moon OCs.

If you don’t know what Racist Sandwich is, it’s an amazing podcast you should all be listening to. I was so happy to be interviewed by both Zahir and @soleilho (tumblr). Not only that but I also had my photograph taken by the amazing @tojofotos (twitter/instagram/tumblr)

Come listen to me get Sailor Moon wrong and totally out myself for creating my self-insert Sailor Sun OC (that just about every other brown girl did to), you’re welcome Naoko Takeuchi!

Check them out on Twitter @raceandfood

First post, and it's already about a convention. Hello folx! If you're joining me, it's because you like what I write, edit, or create. To that I say thank you :)

I'm going to be attending Rose City Comic Con as a guest for what might be my last year in Portland, OR. Come visit me at table D-11 from September 9th - 11th, at the Oregon Convention Center!

I'll have Elements: Fire and Love Circuits with me and more!